1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for image selection to be used in an image transmission system for transmitting desired images of a viewer such as a VOD (Video On Demand) system and a CATV (Cable TV) system.
2. Description of the Background Art
The TV broadcast of an sport event often employs a broadcasting scheme in which a plurality of images with different ranges or angles are taken by a plurality of cameras and the broadcast image is switched among these plurality of images in time.
In such a case, a timing for switching images and a selection of an image to be switched next are decided by the image sending side such as an editor at the broadcast station, but the timing and the selection decided by the image sending side are often not desired ones from a viewpoint of the image receiving side, that is, the individual viewer. For instance, in a case of the TV broadcast of a marathon, the broadcast image usually follow the top runner closely, so that even when the top runner has a safe lead against the second runner while there is a heated competition for the fifth place and the viewer actually wishes to watch this fifth place competition, the broadcast image may still follow the top runner for the most times and the fifth place competition may be shown only briefly.
In order to resolve a viewer's dissatisfaction in such a case, there is a proposition of a scheme in which the viewer is provided with a function for selecting any desired one of a plurality of broadcast images on a plurality of broadcast channels, at a remote controller of a TV set, so that the viewer can select the desired image at the desired timing.
However, in this scheme for providing a function to select the image at the viewer side, the following new problem arises. Namely, when many selection target images are provided from the image sending side, the viewer is required to switch around many images in order to find the desired image in which the desired target is shown. Moreover, in a case where the image showing the desired target is shifted from one image to another quickly, it is quite difficult for the viewer to select the image showing the desired target in the first place.